Washington Update – ASPB Member Appointed to Second Term on National Science Board

Dr. Roger Beachy, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, has been included on the President’s list of intended nominees to the National Science Board (NSB), which governs the work of the National Science Foundation.  Of the eight members of NSB whose six-year terms are ending in 2020, Dr. Beachy is the only current member to be appointed for a second-term.  Dr. Beachy, a long-time ASPB member, has previously served as the first Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the founding president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.  Originally, Dr. Beachy was nominated to the NSB by ASPB in 2013, and the Society supported his appointment to a second term in the most recent call for nominations.  Other intended appointees named to date by the President include:

  • Sudarsanam Babu of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Oakridge National Laboratory;
  • Aaron Dominguez of the Catholic University of America and European Organization for Nuclear Research; and,
  • Dario Gil, Director of Research at IBM.

These four proposed appointees will join Dr. Heather Wilson, former Secretary of the Air Force and President of the University of Texas, El Paso in waiting for their formal nominations to the NSB.  With three remaining openings, it is anticipated that there will be another round of announcements in due course.

Sources and Additional Information: The announcement of the President’s intent to issue these appointments can be found here.

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